Nintendo High - Bonus Levels
by PuppyLuver256
Summary: Side-stories to serve as companion pieces to Nintendo High, as the main storyline just isn't enough for all the characters therein. (There is no overarching plot with this version, it's purely slice-of-life; if you want the main plot, you're looking for Nintendo High proper.)
1. Luigi, Camera, Action

_**Nintendo High: Bonus Levels  
**_ _ **Chapter 6-1: Luigi, Camera, Action**  
(Originally posted on deviantART on August 3, 2014)_

It was a quiet Saturday morning, with the sun barely over the horizon. Luigi tried to gather his camera equipment as quickly and quietly as possible so as to not wake Mario, who had been out super-late at a movie premiere with Peach the previous night. He carefully made his way downstairs and out the door, biking away to the location of his shoot.

Luigi was the first to arrive at his group's filming location, a somewhat secluded part of a nearby park. He took the time to unload and set up his filming equipment. As he was putting together the finishing touches on the setup, Pit and Ruka arrived. "Hey, guys!" Luigi said upon noticing they were there. "What took you so long?"

"What took _us_ so long?" Pit laughed. "You're the one who got here an hour early."

Luigi chuckled. "Well, I am the one with the equipment, hehe..." He looked around, his face slowly becoming puzzled. "So...anyone know where Mona is?"

Ruka shrugged. "No idea," he replied. "I've texted her three times and she hasn't replied to any of them. She might still be asleep."

"You gotta be kidding me..." Luigi sighed, hiding his eyes in annoyance. "I told everyone _exactly_ when we were gonna meet..."

"To be fair, this _is_ Mona we're talking about," Ruka reminded him. "Queen of Procrastination, remember?"

Luigi groaned in disappointment. "Well, we have two options," he said. "One, we wait for Mona, making this whole early meeting thing completely pointless. Or two, one of us puts on a dress and takes on the female role. And it can't be me because I'm the only one with camera experience." After a slight hesitation, he turned towards Ruka.

"Well?" Pit asked, also turned towards Ruka.

Ruka gave them all weird looks. "...What are you guys looking at me like that for?"

Luigi shrugged. "You seem to be the best candidate for our female lead stand-in, to be honest."

"Wait, what?!" Ruka exclaimed. "Wh-what makes you say that?!" His eyes than narrowed into an annoyed glare. "...It better not be because I'm gay!"

"I said 'wear a dress', not 'kiss a guy'!" Luigi insisted. "Besides, I wouldn't make you kiss a guy you weren't in a relationship with. I mean, it'd probably make you feel like how I'd feel if I had to kiss a girl other than Daisy..."

Ruka rolled his eyes. "Gee, thanks for your concern," he said sarcastically. "But seriously, why am _I_ the best dude to be the woman? We _all_ placed in that crossdressing pageant, remember?"

"Luigi's on camera duty and the dress we brought for the female lead has no wing room," Pit insisted. "You're technically the only one who _can_ fill in if Mona doesn't get here soon."

"...Can I at least keep my pants on?" Ruka asked hesitantly.

"There's nowhere around here that's private enough to change completely, so I'd say that's a given," Luigi said.

Soon enough, Ruka had put the dress on over his pants. He did seem to be slightly uncomfortable, but his discomfort seemed to be more about the dress itself than the fact he was wearing women's clothing. "I really wish we had time for me to run home and get my pageant outfit..." Ruka muttered.

Pit gave him a weird look. "You seriously still have that?" he asked.

Ruka nodded. "No point in getting rid of perfectly usable clothes, after all," he replied. He tugged at the dress in annoyance. "Plus, they weren't as... _tight_ as this thing. Yeesh..."

"It was fitted for Mona, remember? She _is_ a bit slimmer than you," Luigi said, double-checking his setup. "Now remember, you're playing Lady Macbeth in this scene. Pit, you're Macbeth."

"Can we just change Lady Macbeth to be Macbeth's gay lover so I don't have to wear this anymore? Or do a scene with two guys instead?" Ruka groaned.

"But we only brought the part of the script containing this specific scene, and I doubt there were any open homosexuals in Shakespeare's time," Pit said. "Plus, girls weren't allowed to act back then, so you playing the girl is technically _more_ accurate."

"Am I at least a pretty girl?" Ruka asked sarcastically.

"Guys, _focus!_ " Luigi exclaimed. "We need to get this shot today so I can edit it before Monday!"

"Sorry!" Pit donned a cheap yet fancy-looking hat and walked out of the view of the camera. "Okay, I'm ready. You ready, Ruka?"

Ruka nodded. "Yeah, I'm ready too."

"All right, then." Luigi turned the camera on and prepared to begin filming. "Act 1, scene 5 from 'enter Macbeth'. And...action!"

Ruka stayed in-frame as Pit made his way towards him, doing his best to look tired. Ruka turned to Pit and, in his best impression of a female voice, began to recite his line. " _Great Glamis, worthy Cawdor, greater than both, by the all-hail hereafter. Thy letters have..._ " He stopped when he noticed that Pit had begun to lightly snicker. "...okay, why are you laughing?"

Pit let out a nervous chuckle. "Sorry, your girl voice...it's strangely convincing..."

"Um...thank you?" Ruka half-asked.

"Can we get back on track, please?" Luigi asked with a sigh of annoyance. "We're gonna have to start that line over."

"Let's get this over with," Ruka said.

* * *

"Act 1, scene 5, take 2. Action!"

Ruka began his previous line from the beginning. " _Thy letters have transported me beyond this ignorant present, and I feel now the future in the instant._ "

" _My dearest love,_ " Pit recited, an artificial pompousness in his voice. " _Duncan comes here tonight._ "

" _And when goes hence?_ "

"Boyfriends!"

All three of the young men stopped what they were doing in surprise and looked around for the source of the exclamation. They soon saw a little girl nearby who stared at Pit and Ruka with glee in her eyes. "You two are so cute together!" the girl squealed in delight.

"He's _not_ my boyfriend!" Ruka shouted. "We're just acting!"

"Yeah, and I only wanna date girls!" Pit added.

"Little girl, we're kind of in the middle of filming a really important school project," Luigi said, trying to be as polite yet firm as possible. "Could you please go find your parents or something?"

"Okay..."

* * *

"Take 3!"

" _And when goes hence?_ " Ruka continued.

" _Tomorrow, as he purposes."_

" _O, never shall sun that morrow see! Your face, my thane, is as a book where men may read strange_ —dogs!"

"Huh?"

No sooner had Ruka pointed it out that the three of them were nearly run over by a small group of runaway dogs dragging leashes behind them. "Get back here!" a man shouted to the group of dogs. "Sorry, so sorry!"

"That...was random..."

* * *

"Take 6..."

" _To beguile the time, look like the time. Bear weclome in your eye..._ "

"'Weclome' in your eye?" Pit asked, confused.

Ruka groaned. "'Welcome'. Damn it..."

* * *

"Take 10..."

" _We will speak further,_ " Pit said.

Ruka nodded. " _Only look up clear. To alter favor ever is to fear. Leave all the rest to me._ "

"And cut!" Luigi breathed a sigh of relief. "I think we got it this time."

"Thank _god_..." Ruka sighed.

At that moment, the sound of a motor scooter approached them. Mona, who was driving it, parked the scooter, jumped off, and ran towards them. "Sorry I'm late!" Mona exclaimed. "I accidentally set my alarm for PM instead of AM. So, when do we start filming?" She then noticed what had been going on. "...Wait, why's Ruka wearing my Lady Macbeth dress?" The boys did not answer whatsoever, merely glaring at her with fury. "Heh...hehe...I take it I've screwed up royally this time..."


	2. The Perplexing Persson Puzzle

_**Nintendo High: Bonus Levels  
**_ _ **Chapter 11-1: The Perplexing Persson Puzzle**  
(Originally posted on deviantART on August 18, 2015)_

Marth was in the school office getting some stuff together for the next student council meeting. As he did so, Shad entered the office to update some of his records, sighing in frustration as he did so. "Something wrong, Mr. Covington?" Marth asked.

"It's just..." Shad said, an odd look of confusion on his face. "Well, do you know anything about Steve Persson?"

"I don't know him, but I know _of_ him," Marth replied. "He's the sophomore that transferred from Torrent High, right?"

"Yes, that's him exactly," Shad said with a nod. "For some reason, his attendance record is incredibly..." He paused, as if his thoughts were failing him. "Sporadic, I guess is the right word. I've tried asking him about it, but I've never managed to get a straight answer out of him."

Marth shrugged. "Some students just don't have the best attendance, I guess," he said.

Shad shook his head. "That's just it, I've checked his overall attendance record—not just for that of my class—and according to the morning periods' records he's arrived at school nearly every day, and every day he doesn't show up in the morning is accounted for with a proper parent's note or doctor's excuse," he insisted. "And he's always accounted for in his final class of the day unless, as with the morning, he's out for medical reasons. It's the middle classes where his attendance is so scattered."

"Odd," Marth said. "...Maybe I can try to find out for you?"

"I appreciate the offer, but I don't know how successful you'll be," Shad replied. He placed a hand on Marth's shoulder. "You can try if you want, but I wouldn't get your hopes up."

Later that day, Marth spoke with Little Mac outside of their final class's room. "I want to find out about Persson's absences for Mr. Covington's sake, but I just have no clue as how to go about doing so..." he said worriedly.

"No sweat, man," Mac said with confidence. "I've got the perfect helpers in mind for the job: the Greil Mercenaries."

Marth sighed. "Look, I don't really want to get anyone else involved in this if I can avoid doing so. Are you sure bringing in Ike's group is the best idea?"

Almost as soon as Marth had finished his sentence, Link and Skull Kid ran past the two seniors, nearly knocking them to the ground. "Hey, watch where you're going!" Mac shouted at the two.

"Sorry!" Link called back as they left.

Marth gave the two runners an odd look. "Wonder what's gotten into them," he muttered to himself, though he could sense a trace of urgency in their steps. He shook his head and turned his attention back to Mac. "Anyway, are you really sure getting Ike involved would be a good idea?"

"Marth, _please_ ," Mac said with a laugh. "I may have taken a few hard blows to the head in my line of work, but I can still have a good idea or two sometimes."

"'Your line of work'?" Marth couldn't help but roll his eyes. "We both know you're unemployed, and I don't think participation in a school sport really counts as a 'line of work'."

"Augh, you know what I mean," Mac groaned. He then flipped his phone open to check the time. "I gotta go," he said. "Doc wants to meet me for training in five. See ya." Mac put on his pink jacket and headed out, giving Marth a thumbs-up as he left.

Marth sighed. "I'm probably going to end up regretting this," he said to himself as he took out his own phone and began to write a text message.

* * *

The next day, Marth waited in the student council office (which was technically just a classroom that was rarely used) for the school's well-known group of detectives. Soon enough, a blue-haired junior wearing a headband entered the room, followed by a handful of students from varying class years. "Well, well, well," Ike said jovially. "Looks like the high and mighty student council requires our services. What can the Greil Mercenaries do for you, good sir Altea?"

"Now's not the time for theatrics, Greil," Marth said.

"I know, I know," Ike said. "In all seriousness, what can we help you with?"

"There's a student whose odd pattern of attendance suggests that he is skipping classes," Marth told him. He placed a picture of Steve on the desk between them, pushing it towards Ike so he could examine it. "Steve Persson, sophomore. I would rather not bother him directly, so I was hoping you and your group could help find out if this is indeed the case, and if so, why."

Ike nodded in understanding. "That doesn't sound too tough," he said, motioning to the other students that had accompanied him. "What do you guys think?" he asked them.

"Yeah, I think it'd be easy to figure out why he's skipping," Zest, one of the other two human boys, replied. He turned to Ruby, a redhead wearing a white and red hoodie and also the only girl of the group. "You have a few classes with this Steve guy, don't you?" he asked her.

Ruby nodded. "Uh-huh, he's in both my third and sixth periods," she said.

"I don't see why this would be such a big deal, to be honest," the bandanna-wearing boy sighed. "What's wrong with skippin' a class or two every now and then?"

"Come on, Zidane," Geno, a puppet-like boy dressed in blue, said jokingly. "No need to use this guy's actions to cover your own rear end. Everyone knows you're a truant."

Zidane glared at him. "Hey, not cool..."

"Anyway, I'm sure we'll be able to figure out why he's skipping," Ike said. "We'll get back to you as soon as we have enough information."

Marth nodded. "All right. Thank you very much."

* * *

The rest of the day, the Greil Mercenaries observed Steve whenever they could. Ruby had the best chance to get in touch with him as she shared two classes with him, but no matter how she tried to get him to open up during third period, Steve only responded to her with the odd shrug and occasional "uh-huh". As the classes let out, Zidane passed by Steve in the hall and noticed something strange. Steve seemed to distance himself from the rest of the crowd until approaching the stairwell. Once he seemed sure no one was watching, he quickly slipped out the exit without so much as a sound above that of the passing student body. "Looks like we got somethin' now," Zidane said to himself. He took out his cell phone and rang up Ike.

" _Yo,_ " Ike's voice said from the other end of the line.

"I've caught Steve in the act," Zidane told him. "He just slipped out the door in the Y-Block stairwell, and I'm goin' after him."

" _What? No!_ " Ike half-shouted. " _You can't just go off on your own like that!_ "

"Look, we're gonna lose him otherwise," Zidane said. "Just get the others together and meet me outside."

A few minutes later, the rest of the Greil Mercenaries soon met up with Zidane, who was in the process of hopping the fence surrounding the school grounds. "What are you even doing, you moron?" Geno asked.

"Steve hopped the fence," Zidane said as he straddled the top of the fence, "so if we're gonna see what he's up to, we're gonna have to hop the fence as well."

"You're full of crap!" Zest said with a laugh. "You're seriously gonna follow a skipper into the pedo woods?"

"Well, if this really _is_ the pedo woods like everyone says, I figure he'd appreciate some backup." Zidane dropped to the other side of the fence, stumbling a bit from the landing but quickly regaining his balance. "You guys comin' or what?" he asked.

Ike shook his head. "You're crazy, Zidane," he said. To everyone's surprise, Ike then began to climb the fence as well. Zest soon followed, and Geno skipped the climbing step and leapt over the fence in one go.

"What the hell is even wrong with you guys?!" Ruby shouted in disbelief.

"You know Zidane's track record with getting into trouble," Zest told her. "Someone's gotta keep an eye on him, after all."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Zidane said, rolling his eyes.

"And who's going to keep an eye on the rest of you?" Rube asked sternly. Zest looked at her with pleading eyes. Realizing she wasn't going to make the boys see reason, Ruby followed them over the fence. She groaned upon her uneasy landing, then got up and chased after the boys as they pursued Steve.

In the middle of the woods, the students discovered an odd pile of rocks and wood planks. Puzzled, they cleared the debris to reveal a hole large enough for an average-sized man to fit through. There was a small scrap of blue cloth snagged onto one of the wooden planks near the edge of the hole. "Oh, great," Zest murmured nervously. "There's a pedo hole in the pedo woods. We might as well count Steve as dead."

Ike rolled his eyes and picked up the piece of cloth. It seemed to be coated in some odd green particles on the cloth, as well as a lingering sulfur-like odor. "Eugh..." Ike groaned. They made their way inside the hole. The walls slowly changed from dirt to stone, with noticeable pick marks in the stone surface. As they ventured deeper, the distant sound of rhythmic clanging could be heard.

"What's that sound?" Ruby asked.

"Sounds like metal on stone," Geno said.

They continued toward the sound, eventually seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. As they approached the light, they could see a shadow of a person moving in rhythm with each sound. It was Steve, repeatedly striking the stone wall with a pick presumably made of iron. His pick snagged onto a large palm-sized rock, loosing it from the wall. "Might wanna check that later..." Steve muttered to himself. He continued to pick at the wall, oblivious to the presence of the others.

Zidane, tired of waiting around, cleared his throat and shouted, "Hey, Steve!"

Steve turned around to see the people behind him. He looked surprised, put his pick down, and picked up a sword. "H-hey, no need for weapons!" Ike shouted, raising his hands in surrender. "We're just curious what you were doing here—"

"Stop," Steve said quietly. "Don't make any sudden moves."

They all gave him odd looks as he slowly approached them, sword still in hand. It was at that point that they realized Steve was not looking at them, but beyond them. Ruby slowly turned around, and her eyes grew wide. "Guys..." Ruby said in a small squeak. "What...what is that?!" The others looked at the thing that both Ruby and Steve had seen. A large green creature was standing behind them, appearing like a needleless cactus with a slack-jawed face. It stepped toward them tentatively on its stubby legs, emitting a low hissing sound.

"Everyone, get behind me," Steve said firmly. "This thing's literally a ticking time bomb." The others didn't even have the proper time to react. The creature leapt forward with a much louder hissing sound, but Steve was quicker. He swung his sword at the creature, nearly slicing it in two. In its final moments of life, the creature swelled and burst with enough force to dislodge bits of the walls and ceiling, spewing green particles all over Steve's clothing. "Bleh, not again..." Steve groaned in disgust.

"What even _was_ that thing?" Zest asked in disbelief.

Steve shrugged. "Dunno if they have an actual name, I just call 'em creepers." He sighed, then took off his shirt and placed it in a plastic bag, removing a clean shirt from his backpack and putting it on in its place. "There goes another shirt I'll have to burn..."

"So, Steve, what exactly are you doing here, anyway?" Geno asked.

"This is a pretty decent mine," Steve said. "I've managed to find about fifty bucks worth of stuff in here just over the past two months."

"So you skip classes...to _mine?_ " Zidane asked.

Steve nodded. "Only a little bit every few days."

"...can I get in on some of this mine money?"

"Are you willing to work?"

"I figured as such," Zidane sighed in disappointment.

"Well, Steve, we were kind of sent to figure out why you've been skipping classes," Ike said tentatively. "So how do you propose we explain this?"

"...No idea," Steve said. "I'd prefer you didn't tell anyone about this mine, though."

"We gotta tell 'em something," Ike said.

"Tell 'em I left to clear my mind." Steve then pushed past the others, leaving them with a few more questions than answers.


End file.
